Archive | Android OS

Now that everyone under the sun managed to get a small sampling of Google’s highly anticipated next version of Android, it seems that they company is throwing a special event next week to go in-depth at some of the new features.

For something that’s positioned to be a true tablet OS, it only makes sense to find the Mountain View based company to officially show off all the ample aspects of Honeycomb. Interestingly enough, invitations were sent out to various web sites for a special event that’s going to be held on February 2nd where they will be providing some ecosystem news and demos about Honeycomb. If you haven’t checked out our preview on Android 3.0, you might want to look it over to see the major updates that’s going to come along with the upcoming version of Android.

And you never know, maybe we might learn something new with the platform that we haven’t seen before – or maybe they might unveil some kind of new hardware? In any event, the date will be here sooner than you think!

The long-rumored total interface overhaul that was to come with Android 3.0 Honeycomb since last August, is already here. It turned out that Google meant this new interface for tablets, which, in hindsight, should have been easy to guess, given the larger screen real estate the UI gurus have on slate devices.

Google posted a beta SDK for Android 3.0, and also platform highlights, so let’s dive deep to check how does the new Android OS differ, since it is going to wink at us from many a tablet this year… Read the full article at PhoneArena.com!

Andy Rubin tweeted in December that “over 300 000 Android phones [are] activated every day”, and this was officially confirmed during Google’s Q4 earning call.

Also, it was said that searches within Android increased tenfold, while mobile search grew 4 times. Furthermore, Google confirmed it’s eager to embrace both tablets and smartphones, and pointed out that click to call ads are generating plenty of money. Happy days for the Mountain View-based company indeed.

Google’s OS is definitely going from strength to strength, and it would be a matter of time before we know for sure how its new CEO will affect the company’s direction.

It was only the end of December when the Android Market reached the 200,000 app milestone. Now, only a few weeks later, the Android Market has over 225,000 apps.

We don’t mean to overstate its significance, but app counts are an important means of judging an operating system’s success. Of course there are exceptions. The still-strong BlackBerry OS has a relatively meager 17,000 apps, but that’s because it’s used differently than Android or iOS. BlackBerry users still download 2,000,000 apps per day, but the OS just isn’t as game-friendly.

Apple’s App Store still leads with 300,000 apps, but the Android Market is showing impressive growth considering Apple’s head start. Microsoft is surely jealous, with only 5,000 available apps. Then again, Windows Phone 7 might show growth like BlackBerry, building more of a corporate consumer base.

With Apple’s iPhone expanding to new carriers internationally, and to Verizon here in the U.S., it will be exciting to see how the Android Market keeps pace. Will Android truly overtake the iPhone in 2011? Or will the iPhone’s expansion cement its smartphone dominance?

Steven Walker, Sony Ericsson’s acting head of global marketing, said in an interview that the joint venture is committing itself to the Android OS. Walker commented, “We do think it’s important at this moment in time to focus our external messaging on Android based products. We see the need as an industry to galvanize behind the Android ecosystem to create a strong ecosystem for consumers.”

Even with a lineup filled with phones loaded with Google’s open source OS, and despite the promise of more to come, Walker did admit that Sony Ericsson is keeping an “open mind toward Windows Phone 7″. Walker added, “there is clearly a galvanizing within the industry around Android as a creditable alternative to what’s out there, and we think that’s a good thing.”

Sony Ericsson has come under fire by its customers for what appears to be the inability to get its phones updated in a timely fashion. Recently, we reported that the joint venture’s current flagship device, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, will not be able to receive an upgrade to Android 2.2 which means that the handset will not be able to download the Adobe Flash 10.1 player. Walker said that the inability of the joint venture to upgrade its devices to the latest Android builds was only an important concern to the most “spec savvy” users. Still, Walker did note that Sony Ericsson is releasing a product this quarter that will have Android 2.3 installed and the executive said that the company has learned over the last year how important it is to have the latest operating system software on new Android releases.

Two unreleased handsets have garnered some attention for the company.The Xperia PLAY has captured a buzz with its landscape sliding game controller, and at the CES, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc displayed a design that caught the attention of cell phone fans with a casing that tapered in the middle to the thinnest build seen on any current handset, and was the only phone on display at the show that was seen running Android 2.3.

On Tuesday, we reported that multiple sources were saying that Android 2.4 would be called Ice Cream to go along with the dessert-flavored names for the different builds of Google’s open source OS. Usually, the parents get naming rights so it is appropriate that we listen to Andy Rubin who is considered the “Father of the Android OS”. The Google VP recently told the guys at Tech Crunch that the name of Android 2.4 will be Ice Cream Sandwich. Why add Sandwich to the name? Well, a bowl or cone of Froyo would look just like a bowl or cone of Ice Cream so adding the Sandwich to Ice Cream will differentiate Android 2.2 from 2.4.

An interesting theory about Android 2.4 has been put forth by IntoMobile. The idea here is that Ice Cream Sandwich will be a version of Honeycomb for phones. Andy Rubin has stated that Honeycomb would be meant for tablets but be compatible for both tablets and smartphones. With the smaller sized screens on a phone, the Honeycomb OS might not produce images that would work on say, a 4.3 inch screen as opposed to a tablet sized display. So the thinking goes that Android 2.4 takes a little Honeycomb, mixes in some of its own features and adds up to Ice Cream Sandwich. Of course, all of these theories just might be getting way ahead of things. After all, Android 2.3 has yet to be downloaded to all appropriate Android handsets that meet the system requirements which means no Ice Cream Sandwich until you finish your Gingerbread.

Here comes another smartphone soap opera about the future of Android as it’s now reported that Android 2.4 is actually … Ice Cream!

This report, which cites “multiple sources familiar with the matter”, implies that Ice Cream is set to be announced during Google I/O 2011 conference between May 10-11, and launched in either June or July this year.

Previous reports stated that Ice Cream is set to be Android 4.0, which makes this rumour dubious, but who knows – come May, Google may add a new letter to its happy Android family – by now, we have Cupcake (C), Donut (D), Eclair (E), Froyo (F), Gingerbread (G), Honeycomb (H) – and Ice Cream (I) is sure to follow, the only question is when.

What do you think of Android 2.4 – is it going to be Ice Cream or something else?

Google is playing it tough with the Honeycomb OS as far as which devices will be allowed to run Android 2.4, or 3.0 (whichever number is decided upon). Right off the bat, Honeycomb requires the handset or tablet to be equipped with a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, which for now leaves only the NVIDIA Tegra 2 to satisfy the requirements. While not confirmed, there is speculation that the OS will require a` Android device to have a 7 inch screen and resolution of 1280 x 720 which squarely puts this build into the tablets only camp. This information comes from Bobby Cha, managing director of Korean consumer electronics firm Enspert, whose company has been working with both the Gingerbread and Honeycomb builds of the Android OS and has not been confirmed.

As a result of these requirements, not one current Android flavored device that is out would be eligible to run Honeycomb. The Nexus S and the Samsung Galaxy Tab both feature the current top specs for an Android processor which is the Arm Cortex-A8. Some upcoming devices might qualify such as the Motorola DROID XOOM tablet, which has already been confirmed as the first Honeycomb device to hit the market. The LG Optima 2X handset is expected to be the first smartphone with a dual-core processor under the hood. But while the Optimus 2 meets the Honeycomb requirement with its chipset, there might be the pesky 7 inch screen requirement. Regardless, the LG phone wouldn’t launch with Honeycomb, but could be upgraded to it down the line depending on how the screen size issue works out.

The jury is still out on whether or not the Honeycomb build will be strictly for tablets. Currently, most believe that with the Nexus S recently launched as a Android 2.3 device, Google would want its flagship phone able to upgrade to what would be its most-up-to-date build of its OS.

For the last 6 months, some Android users have been fighting an SMS bug that delivers text messages to the wrong handset. You can probably think of a million ways that this could be extremely bad for the sender. This bug has been spotted on a number of Android units including the Nexus One running Android 2.2. It looks like you have sent your message to the correct recipient from the correct thread, but instead, the text ends up in a different thread, being read by the wrong person.

Despite all of the scenarios you can imagine that would make this bug seem like something that should be exterminated immediately, the Google Code site had it listed as a “Medium” priority which means that despite the 700 comments about it on the site’s forum, the Mountain View based company was not considering the bug to be such a terrible thing.

Thanks to the voices of those Android users out there who have had their text messages misdirected, Google has now reconsidered and has moved the SMS bug over to “Critical” which means that the problem is an “issue that prevents the product from shipping or should be patched in the field.” Now at this high a priority, it shouldn’t be long before a update for Android 2.2 is sent that allows your SMS to get to the person you intended it for. With 30% of those taking a poll indicating that they have experienced this problem, Google has made the right choice in stepping up the priority.

AndroLib’s latest count shows that there are now 200,000 apps in the Android Market. Like watching an infant grow up and learn how to walk and talk and head into puberty, the Market has undergone some changes recently, as we reported. The Market has grown a bit faster than predicted. An article from a year ago called for 150,000 apps in the Android Market by year end 2010. The amazing thing is not that the estimate was topped by 50,000 applications, but that at this time last year there were only 16,000 apps in the Android Market.

That stunning growth gives hope to users of Windows Phone 7 models. The Windows Marketplace celebrated a milestone of its own and now has 5,000 apps available. Unlike the apps available for Android a small minority of 28% are free for the Windows Marketplace and 22% are games. AndroLib’s breakdown shows that the free downloads in the Android Market control 63.3% of the pie, and only 14.8% are games.

So what is in store for these two markets for the next 12 months? With the better game playing capabilities of future Android handsets, more games should make their way into the Market. Many Android apps are supported by ads, which explains the large percentage of free apps. But as other payment options become the norm for the store, the future could see more paid apps for Android. As for Windows, the amazing parabolic growth of the Android Market will be a goal to aim for, but it will all come down to handset sales and whether or not phones using Microsoft’s new mobile OS can ring up sales at the same rate as those handsets using Google’s open source OS.